IMO Swedish meatballs is more about the whole dish though, the simplicity. Brown/cream sauce, lingonsylt, mashedpotatoes or boiled potatoes. Saltgurka on the side. The meatsballs alone arent that fun, but meatballs christmas version is better! Some people put some liquor broth from the anjovies can, which takes the meatballs to a whole new dimension!
Niklas, as a Belgian, I have to recognise the Kotbullar. The first ever scientific Antarctic expedition was done by a Belgian captain. He took in Amundsen and connected to him one of the first canned foods: the meatballs. It got them the needed protein.
Also Alex (while midway thru making 1 batch): Is the current process the one of making the perfect meatball? Dr. Strange: If I tell you, it won't happen.
Alex: if you want to fry the meatballs without resulting in weird shapes and flat sides, fry them in a takoyaki pan. The pan already has round indentations to make spherical takoyaki balls. They would be perfect for pan-frying meatballs while retaining their round shape.
In The Netherlands, Gehaktbal = chopped meat ball. In the 50’s people used white bread soaked in milk to add to the meat, this was a way to make the gehaktbal bigger. Chopped meat was meat for the poor back then. Search for Oma’s gehaktbal Hollandse gehaktballen
Your way of thinking about food changed my whole perspective on cooking. I started becoming a vegan almost a year ago and you helped me so much about this without intention. Cooking vegan food when coming from cultural background where meat is an essential part of the cuisine (Germany) I always try to deconstruction the meal/food into its core elements. Just like you did with the meatball. At first it sounds ridiculous but it helps getting creative and making new meals that are not only supplementing the meat but creating something completely new. Thank you so much for all of your work Alex!
Alex, I know you were debating whether this new approach is right, but I love it. The production is mind blowing and your personality shines. Spread it like butter!
If only it was possible to come up with a fitness function for meatballs, we could train the neural network to produce the perfect weight of each ingredient :P
@mister clean Alton Brown used to have a show on Food Network called Good Eats. It taught you how to cook with science. It was low budget and fun, although sometimes a bit weird. My older brother learned how to cook mainly with that show. Alton Brown did some other shows on Food Network as well and he is a pretty cool guy.
@@davidwilliama.7296Alton Brown is actually the reason I study chemistry. I always loved cooking as a child but Alton Brown was the first to actually introduce me to the science behind cooking. I'm German btw and only stumbled good eats episodes on TH-cam
Alex, try this one: - beef and pork - milk soaked bread - onion - egg - dill and parsley - black pepper you can add bread right into the meat grinder or later
Sauteed onions and heavy-cream/milk soaked breadcrumbs! You get roughly the same results with dairy soaked breadcrumbs as if you used dairy soaked bread-slices, except you do not have to deal with bread-lumps. Or you could pulse some stale-bread in a blender and soak it.
I love your videos so much. This is storytelling at its best. I particularly like when you get stuck and frustrated, it's like it happens every other video, but then you pull through and succeed or you end the video on a cliffhanger and continue trying to solve the problem in the next video. Truly a joy to watch.
Alex ! You have singlehandedly made me fall back in love with meatballs. I am African and Italian American, ground meat is important to me! I fell out of love because of the mass production and serving of dry, tough meatballs in places like Olive Garden (even though they have improved since they contributed to the dry meatball epidemic). I cannot appreciate enough the theoretical education you have provided me with to produce more moist, supple, tender meatballs at home. Merci beaucoup!
GREAT video, Alex! What you said about the non-meat ingredients is SO true! During the Christmas holiday, I decided to make meatballs for a party. The guest of honor (my elderly mother) doesn't chew well. I wanted to make a meatball she could eat, but also one that anyone would like. For me, the answer was to mince and sautee' garlic, onions, and mushrooms. I added cooked rice in place of the traditional bread crumbs, along with eggs. I baked them and then immersed them in a mushroom cream sauce. Not only did they turn out better than I could have asked for, but they were actually legitimate meatballs...not just cocktail snacks. They would have gone well as a dinner entree with pasta, potatoes, or even rice. I'm glad you're shining some light on this subject.
Love ❤️ the video keep up the amazing work by the way did you happen to talk to Gennaro or Jamie about the perfect meatballs? All the best from Canada 🇨🇦
I enjoyed watching this because of my grandma. She used to make meatballs at least once a week when I was a kid. Sadly she passed over a year ago. Thank you for this Alex.
A Swedish meatball recipe with half and half beef and pork mince. Breadcrumb + heavy cream, let sit, mix in some pepper and salt + maybe some cayenne or stock. Boil a medium sized potatoe for every 500g of meat, mix it in with the cream/breadcrum mix. A sauce made from the fond in the pan after frying the balls, cream, black currant jelly or lingonberry jam with some stock and additional seasoning. Served with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam and or preserve.
I never thought meatballs would be a complex subject, but I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this series. I have actually never made meatballs before. I bought store bought meatballs once or twice and I've had them made by other people, but I never made them myself. I am excited to learn from what you come up with and trying out making meatballs myself.
The flavour as you describe it is a tenderising agent that builds down the meat. Once you know the ideal moisture degree in the meat. You can use ANYTHING that has some breaking agents. Like onion garlic and other fruits. Like tomato. Pan frying dried tomato with garlic onion and ginger as tenderising agent is just amazing as little bites. This is beyond the rest of the recipe.
i use rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs, makes for a bit different texture (depending on how long you soak them) and they are healthier (and to me tastier) than store bought breadcrumbs :P
@@dansv1 tried with rice flour a few times, works pretty good, but not a fan of actual rice, dont like to feel the grains of rice in the finished product :/
Been watching a lot of Alex's vids and so far I'm enjoying the format, if there is such a thing. Part 1 - Alex gets an idea. Part 2 - Alex just puts himself in a position/problem and goes crazy for a while. Part 3 - Alex tries to figure out. Part 4 - Alex Succeeds! Hahahhaa. It's like watching a movie in 10 minutes.
Love this deep dive stuff! Really facinating! But as a swede I must say that Im somewhat dissapointed. I mean, I knew this would happen and all but I feel like you should atleast try and make some Swedish meatballs to compare with the Italian. The southern europeans are already so famous for their food that I feel left out when it's actually about a food item that we're famous for. Ah well, it's early in the series, maybe it will come in a later episode. :) Skål!
Another binder for meatballs I don’t think I saw on your list is using oats. My mom uses oats in her meatball recipe, but it is not an Italian meatball recipe
I live in Munich and my family uses: Beef, onions, breadcrumbs, horseradish, mustard, salt and pepper. The form is a flattened ball. Bavarian name is Fleischpflanzerl. Keep in mind, this is the Munich variation with horseradish and mustard.
Alex... Your Food Et Cetera TH-cam Channel is among my favorites! Really!! I'm a 65 yo Foodie kind of guy... For 50+ years. I cook from scratch as much as possible. I like to Hand-craft DYI Food . Your vids are an inspiration to keep on keepin' on. Thanx. TK from The Black Hills of South Dakota USA
When I think about meatballs, it makes me fly to (by alphabetical order) : China Germany Indonesia Italy Scandinavia Spain Turkey Vietnam And reminds me the ones my mother cook. Thanks Alex.
Happy new year! I will gladly support whatever actions you take with this channel. Make sure you’re just as worried about your own enjoyment/happiness as you are ours. Cheers!
Alex, my tricks: mix beef with pork or lamb, use panko or fresh breadcrumbs, add some caramelised onions (almost like a paste), peper and salt. All other herbs goes in the sauce (italian rustic tomato, french jus or any to your liking. And dont forget to fry for the mallard effect. (in Belgium we eat meatballs with sour cherries)
Italians didn't 'invent' meatballs, they just have their own style. Research shows recipes for Chinese meatballs going back to 200BC. The first Roman recipes show up around 100AD. Italian-American food is influenced by Italian immigrants, but has evolved over he past 100 years to become it's own thing, using different ingredients and techniques. Just about every culture has a long history of ground meat with 'additives' shaped into balls.
@@scottr939 every civilization that had access to minced meat sooner or later developed some kind of meatballs. I'm just saying that if he want to learn how to make italian meatballs it makes no sense going to NY, especially since it would be much more easy for him to go to Italy. Unless he want exactly "italian meatballs", then yes, he can only find them in the USA...
@@Beregorn88 I was responding to your mistaken comment about the 'origin of meatballs' being in Italy. Of course we can't know who was the first human to grind meat and roll it into a ball, so origin history is generally based on written records or other found artifacts like drawings or tools. He could have chosen any style like Italian, Swedish, Chinese, Turkish, Spanish etc, and gone to those countries, but he showed he wanted to make Italian-American style meatballs - therefore the best place to find those is in NYC.
that is why I love watching the journey. It's about the passion and discovery along the way. Now I want alex to learn the traditional meat ball from a half dozen countries and then take the best parts of all of them to make a new meat ball! Like what would happen if you combine techniques of american, swedish, italian, french and chinese lionhead meatball. What kind of delicious new meatball could melt your mind and blow your taste buds? I'm also waiting for follow up recipes with kimchi. Like what kind of korean french stew can you make with your homemade kimchi? What about kimchi ramen? Smash Japanese techniques with korean techniques to make fun new flavor explosions.
I have done a dozen meatball experiments in my time and I will say this...beef, veal, and silken tofu. I hate tofu but, just a wee amount gives texture and creaminess while skyrocketing flavor if marinated! Zero breadcrumbs and add grated hard cheese. Yellow(sweet) onion, roasted garlic, parsley, oregano, thyme, red pepper flake. A reduced mirpoux in beef broth (syrup like) is very good with mushrooms. You gotta figure it out from there! One Hint: Pulse the veal and tofu in a blender til grainy smooth. You got this!
@@randomawesomeness6114If you're talking about our currency, it's pretty low at the moment. So no, it's not that cheap for us to go to other countries. Maybe you confused us with Norway. And yes, I have been to a lot of other european countries, and personally, I love italian food. And no, I do not wish this whole series to be transformed into only being about Swedish meatballs. However, what I meant with my comment was that it would be fun to maybe include them in one of the videos in this series. If you would have tried the real thing, I'm sure you would have loved it.
Hi, I'm Italian and my grandmother used to do meatballs with the meat used to make beef broth and adding potatoes, obviously you have to grind everything. After that you can decide to add the "sugo" or not, but if you do make sure to cook the meatballs with the sauce ("sugo")
I feel like Alex's videos are more and more about the story and less about the recipe. Yes, we saw him cooking. But he don't even tell anymore what ingredients he uses... I hope it's just an introduction, that we'll have more concrete recipes later. As always, bravo for the editing, songs and everything. So much improvement since your started at Le Studio !
My (swedish) grandma always lets breadcrumbs "swallow" in some whole cream first, then adding finely diced onions, white pepper, some bouillon de gibier, salt, and a teaspoon of coarse swedish mustard. Then she serves them the super classic way with parsley sprinkled potato mash and lingonberry jam :')
I'm from Youngstown, OH, USA where we have a very large Italian immigrant population. Fennel is our secret ingredient for meatballs. Some people put sausage in the mixture to get it, others add the fennel directly. Veal, pork and beef plus sausage or fennel, panko bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, onion, salt and pepper make an excellent meat ball
This kind of episode is why I watch your channel. If I could only be so fortunate to commit to a single endeavor as you are here!!! Perhaps in time, I will. Can't wait to see the conclusion!!!
As you went to USA, you might need to know a thing. In US, great burger patties, many times, are as simple as meat with salt and pepper. It is said that if you NAIL the balance of lean to fat meat proportions alone, you already have a great start. Using the same logic, you must make the perfect meatball out of just that: meat, salt and pepper. If you manage to do that, you now have the founding knowledge to build, the reason behind the proportions of lean to fat meat, why add salt after the ball or patty is done and how much salt and pepper. It is all about taste. YOUR taste. It is important to remember that something can only be perfect to you. You can be guided by great chefs, and copying their recipes is no mistake, but question if that can be improved for you. THAT is innovative. All that said, you make me incredibly excited for a new series to come.
Alex: "I need to truly understand this originally italian recipe"
Also Alex: *goes to the US*
well hes basing his recipe on italian american style, so therefore he would have to go to where the italian-americans are, in america.
Still, It would be fun if he ended up at IKEA :D :D :D
A lot of meaty Italian recipes really developed in the US, where meat was more plentiful.
Ma infatti ahahah
At one point there were more Italians born people living in NYC than all of Italy.
You should go to Italy, Sweden, and Turkey too, and try their classic meatballs
Next thing you know...
Hahaha
A Bulgarian friend of mine makes extraordinary meatballs... he reckons he based the on a traditional recipe.
You beat me to it...
I think these places should have been the first stop if I am totally honest.
Good thing he’s not in a US airport saying “I’m going to do it!!” “I’m going to commit to it”
Airport Security: Send in the dogs
"I'm boarding the plane, I guess it's too late to go back now" :D
@@kuykendallwebfamily dogs sure love meatballs
@@kuykendallwebfamily Dogs? ffs fully body search and cavities.....
He's white, he'll get a pass.
"Italy has the most famous meatballs"
*triggered in Swedish*
As italian I adore your meatballs and I HATE tomato meatballs
@@marcolucca6241 Marco my friend, you are always welcome to sweden ! :P
IMO Swedish meatballs is more about the whole dish though, the simplicity. Brown/cream sauce, lingonsylt, mashedpotatoes or boiled potatoes. Saltgurka on the side. The meatsballs alone arent that fun, but meatballs christmas version is better! Some people put some liquor broth from the anjovies can, which takes the meatballs to a whole new dimension!
Blir sjukt kränkt faktiskt
Niklas, as a Belgian, I have to recognise the Kotbullar. The first ever scientific Antarctic expedition was done by a Belgian captain. He took in Amundsen and connected to him one of the first canned foods: the meatballs. It got them the needed protein.
Alex: In how many scenarios do i make the perfect meatball?
Doctor Strange: 1 out of 14 milion
Alex: Mind telling me which one was perfect?
Doctor Strange: Yes, I do mind. _Walks out of the room_
@@rich1051414 Hahah:)
@@rich1051414 "the last, afterwards you died"
Also Alex (while midway thru making 1 batch): Is the current process the one of making the perfect meatball?
Dr. Strange: If I tell you, it won't happen.
Out of curiosity, I made the multiplication of the options, and there are more than 282 million posibilities... and don´t forget the avalaible sauces!
Alex: if you want to fry the meatballs without resulting in weird shapes and flat sides, fry them in a takoyaki pan. The pan already has round indentations to make spherical takoyaki balls. They would be perfect for pan-frying meatballs while retaining their round shape.
I like to imagine no matter where Alex is at on his bike, he's constantly "la la la la-ing"
Ian Driver so true
I'm not sure he does that when the camera is off to be honest :)
Wait for the moment when he had his hair cut... 😂😜🇨🇭
2:48 "A meatball must have both meat and... BALL", I heard him saying in my mind.
Came for the ramen, stayed for the video, lived for the accent.
And to be honest, his cookbook is also well worth it.
Bewt zee franche accent iz grett
I love how you've reached that stage in your career where you get to fly to the other side of the world because you fancy learning about a meatball!
@bboyenergetic It's expensive, though...
@@kylenakamura4353 it will be all written off by business expense/trip
@@kylenakamura4353 he's sponsored by skillshare so they pay for it
...and he filmed other stories in NYC... all at one trip I guess
Dude, the meatball Mecca is
Sweden!!
He definitely should have gone to Sweden or Italy instead of the US.
@@Pat1100-z7u He did.
@@zweteIn what video?
Meatballs and mashed potatoes > meatballs and spaghetti
Don't forget the Dutch... Our cuisine sucks but we are good at making meatballs (there are many family recipes).
In The Netherlands, Gehaktbal = chopped meat ball.
In the 50’s people used white bread soaked in milk to add to the meat, this was a way to make the gehaktbal bigger.
Chopped meat was meat for the poor back then.
Search for
Oma’s gehaktbal
Hollandse gehaktballen
As a Swede I am offended that you’re going to the states for meatballs and not Sweden. :P
Maybe he will find swedish Italian, bulgarian chef and so on chef in usa, maybe an american one too though idk 😂
Psst stay tuned 😉
@mister clean, that statement might be even more offensive honestly.
Isak I guess ikea meatballs are swedish meatballs, but its like comparing a proper italian pizza to frozen pizza.
I am strongly believing he goes to the lower tier ones first :p
As someone who regularly flies to the States to try one beer, I applaud this ball-based adventure.
What beer?
@Dan Ramallo different each time! But most commonly Focal Banger by the Alchemist in Vermont.
Alex sat on the floor eating dried apricots is a mood
Your way of thinking about food changed my whole perspective on cooking. I started becoming a vegan almost a year ago and you helped me so much about this without intention. Cooking vegan food when coming from cultural background where meat is an essential part of the cuisine (Germany) I always try to deconstruction the meal/food into its core elements. Just like you did with the meatball. At first it sounds ridiculous but it helps getting creative and making new meals that are not only supplementing the meat but creating something completely new. Thank you so much for all of your work Alex!
6:54 Looking forward to the upcoming 33'176'999 episodes Alex!
Google: "Here's a ton of recipes for meatballs!"
Alex: Hold my wine, it's time to fly to the US!
I would defenetly watch a serie about the perfect meatball
It's spelled "definitely"
Burken Productions are you feeling better now?
Dnoop Sogg I think everyone is.
You already are...
"33 million possible combinations"
That's where hundreds of years and thousands of families refining their own family recipe, comes in handy.
Alex: I'm going to provide them with love.
Also Alex: *goes to the supermarket and throws all the ingredients with anger*
Its tough love
"I guess it's too late to back out now"
It was too late when you bought the ticket
You can still refund the tickets, and even when you're at the airport you can still back down with no refunds
I really cant get enough of his accent 😭
Same
it is pretty awesome
Alex, I know you were debating whether this new approach is right, but I love it. The production is mind blowing and your personality shines. Spread it like butter!
I love Alex alternating between speaking to someone off camera (his inner voice) and speaking to the audience.
I'm calling It now. One day Alex will make a series on how to cook around the world in 80 days.
He travels a LOT. XD
Add caramelized onion, that's transformational.
I seriously love your videos. Not just for their informational value but because I love your personality. Thank you for yet another great video.
Alex: Sponsor Time
Me: 10sec 10sec 10sec 10sec
Alex: *Takes a trip to another country*
Me: Here we go again
6:43 ah yes, the meatball neural network
If only it was possible to come up with a fitness function for meatballs, we could train the neural network to produce the perfect weight of each ingredient :P
when i recommend this channel to friends i tell them, "he's sorta the French Alton Brown minus the puppets"
That's a pretty good way of describing this channel. It does remind me of Alton Brown.
@mister clean Alton Brown used to have a show on Food Network called Good Eats. It taught you how to cook with science. It was low budget and fun, although sometimes a bit weird. My older brother learned how to cook mainly with that show. Alton Brown did some other shows on Food Network as well and he is a pretty cool guy.
@@davidwilliama.7296Alton Brown is actually the reason I study chemistry. I always loved cooking as a child but Alton Brown was the first to actually introduce me to the science behind cooking. I'm German btw and only stumbled good eats episodes on TH-cam
@@davidwilliama.7296 Alton Brown has started making new episodes of Good Eats ! Look for them !
Donna Hartwig They’re here in TH-cam, and definitely no longer low budget 😳
Alex, try this one:
- beef and pork
- milk soaked bread
- onion
- egg
- dill and parsley
- black pepper
you can add bread right into the meat grinder or later
Sauteed onions and heavy-cream/milk soaked breadcrumbs!
You get roughly the same results with dairy soaked breadcrumbs as if you used dairy soaked bread-slices, except you do not have to deal with bread-lumps.
Or you could pulse some stale-bread in a blender and soak it.
Try it I’m interested (Philips version of coarse”
Wonderful Alex ... Really enjoyed the first episode of the series
"can I make the perfect meatball?"
What an amazing question. Like some kind of zen koan
And the zen answer may be: "every meatball is the perfect meatball"
I love your videos so much. This is storytelling at its best. I particularly like when you get stuck and frustrated, it's like it happens every other video, but then you pull through and succeed or you end the video on a cliffhanger and continue trying to solve the problem in the next video. Truly a joy to watch.
8:13
Alex: BIGGER BALLS then I EXPECTED!
" 'cause we got the biggest balls of them all!"
Alex ! You have singlehandedly made me fall back in love with meatballs. I am African and Italian American, ground meat is important to me! I fell out of love because of the mass production and serving of dry, tough meatballs in places like Olive Garden (even though they have improved since they contributed to the dry meatball epidemic). I cannot appreciate enough the theoretical education you have provided me with to produce more moist, supple, tender meatballs at home. Merci beaucoup!
Imagine if Alex was sponsored by raid shadow legends
Alex I really love these better than TV quality episodes exploring your journey of a really specific food. More meatballs to you.
When does Alex ever not take too far?
The passion on this man is insane
GREAT video, Alex! What you said about the non-meat ingredients is SO true! During the Christmas holiday, I decided to make meatballs for a party. The guest of honor (my elderly mother) doesn't chew well. I wanted to make a meatball she could eat, but also one that anyone would like. For me, the answer was to mince and sautee' garlic, onions, and mushrooms. I added cooked rice in place of the traditional bread crumbs, along with eggs. I baked them and then immersed them in a mushroom cream sauce. Not only did they turn out better than I could have asked for, but they were actually legitimate meatballs...not just cocktail snacks. They would have gone well as a dinner entree with pasta, potatoes, or even rice. I'm glad you're shining some light on this subject.
"meatballs are not meatballs. i mean they're meatballs, but they're not meatballs" -Alex 2020
a meatball is a meatball is a meatball... simple as that
As a french guy i can tell this channel is the best way to learn both cooking skills and english at the same time. :')
Love ❤️ the video keep up the amazing work by the way did you happen to talk to Gennaro or Jamie about the perfect meatballs? All the best from Canada 🇨🇦
I enjoyed watching this because of my grandma. She used to make meatballs at least once a week when I was a kid. Sadly she passed over a year ago. Thank you for this Alex.
as soon as i read meatballs i thought of sweden
See my other comment for Swedish meatballs.
Vaibhav Bansal You are right.
@@eriknystrom5839 i am vegetarian
I think I remember seeing something that looked like Stockholm in one of Alex's IG stories.. I think he wen't there to taste the real deal!
Hahaha IKEA
A Swedish meatball recipe with half and half beef and pork mince. Breadcrumb + heavy cream, let sit, mix in some pepper and salt + maybe some cayenne or stock. Boil a medium sized potatoe for every 500g of meat, mix it in with the cream/breadcrum mix. A sauce made from the fond in the pan after frying the balls, cream, black currant jelly or lingonberry jam with some stock and additional seasoning. Served with mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam and or preserve.
Viewers: what's going on here?
Alex: l see balls.
I never thought meatballs would be a complex subject, but I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this series. I have actually never made meatballs before. I bought store bought meatballs once or twice and I've had them made by other people, but I never made them myself. I am excited to learn from what you come up with and trying out making meatballs myself.
Dijon mustard is the key to a perfect meatball! :D
It's key to pretty much everything. Lots of dijon mixed with mayo makes every bread awesome. Or very light coating of dijon on burger patty :D
The flavour as you describe it is a tenderising agent that builds down the meat. Once you know the ideal moisture degree in the meat. You can use ANYTHING that has some breaking agents. Like onion garlic and other fruits. Like tomato. Pan frying dried tomato with garlic onion and ginger as tenderising agent is just amazing as little bites. This is beyond the rest of the recipe.
I missed the vids so much
The edits remind me of the electric company
You, Joshua Weissmann and Babish, are the sofrito TH-cam trinity of my cooking journey to understand food better.
Goes to the US to learn making the perfect meatball? *Cries in swedish*
I am freaking out right now. Have been torturing myself for years with the science of meatballs whilst have dry, boring ones. Love u for thisssss!
Best meatball recipe is from Liège, Belgium : "Boulets sauce lapin" !!!
Can't say their the best; am Italian, but a very close runner up!
"You might be familiar with the phrase "All killer no filler" which in this case makes absolutely no sense" got a good chuckle out of me
No filler unlike his videos, padded like crazy to cross the 10 minute mark.
for me the perfect meatball always contains onions, eggs and bread crumb
i agree... and it does not contain a lot of nonsense video cuts like this.
i use rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs, makes for a bit different texture (depending on how long you soak them) and they are healthier (and to me tastier) than store bought breadcrumbs :P
@@simonstergaard Been cooking 2-3 times a day for 20 years for a large family, and still learn a lot from Alex's videos. Stick around and you'll see.
Dracounius
I use cooked rice instead of bread crumbs for meatloaf, and meatballs are kind of small round meat loaves.
@@dansv1 tried with rice flour a few times, works pretty good, but not a fan of actual rice, dont like to feel the grains of rice in the finished product :/
Been watching a lot of Alex's vids and so far I'm enjoying the format, if there is such a thing. Part 1 - Alex gets an idea. Part 2 - Alex just puts himself in a position/problem and goes crazy for a while. Part 3 - Alex tries to figure out. Part 4 - Alex Succeeds! Hahahhaa. It's like watching a movie in 10 minutes.
Love this deep dive stuff! Really facinating!
But as a swede I must say that Im somewhat dissapointed. I mean, I knew this would happen and all but I feel like you should atleast try and make some Swedish meatballs to compare with the Italian. The southern europeans are already so famous for their food that I feel left out when it's actually about a food item that we're famous for.
Ah well, it's early in the series, maybe it will come in a later episode. :)
Skål!
I am pretty sure that the Italian-American meatball won't be the end of the meatball journey
Another binder for meatballs I don’t think I saw on your list is using oats. My mom uses oats in her meatball recipe, but it is not an Italian meatball recipe
Alex please, use freshly ground beef from a butcher rather than the supermarket stuff
You are a genius man, cant wait to see whats next in this meatballs series
You can only make them perfect to your taste.
Yes, but actually no.
I live in Munich and my family uses:
Beef, onions, breadcrumbs, horseradish, mustard, salt and pepper. The form is a flattened ball. Bavarian name is Fleischpflanzerl. Keep in mind, this is the Munich variation with horseradish and mustard.
*I only came to hear Alex say “meatball”*
Meetboll
meet bowl
Bowl, meet Alex. Alex, meet bowl.
Alex shows that even meatballs can be an adventure story.
No one:
Alex: *meatbowls*
Alex... Your Food Et Cetera TH-cam Channel is among my favorites! Really!! I'm a 65 yo Foodie kind of guy... For 50+ years. I cook from scratch as much as possible. I like to Hand-craft DYI Food . Your vids are an inspiration to keep on keepin' on. Thanx. TK from The Black Hills of South Dakota USA
"I need to accept who I am.." oh Alex I love you!
now this is to go meatballs deep into cooking, you can tell I'm hooked because the thumbnail itself made me hungry
Hallo Alex,
the Dutch have a great meatball history. Just look for "gehaktball" online 😉
Also theyre massive
When I think about meatballs, it makes me fly to (by alphabetical order) :
China
Germany
Indonesia
Italy
Scandinavia
Spain
Turkey
Vietnam
And reminds me the ones my mother cook.
Thanks Alex.
Italians must be so happy right now.
We all know the best way to get good italian meatballs if you live close it Italy is going to the US.
Happy new year! I will gladly support whatever actions you take with this channel. Make sure you’re just as worried about your own enjoyment/happiness as you are ours. Cheers!
Lmao just go to IKEA man
Alex, my tricks: mix beef with pork or lamb, use panko or fresh breadcrumbs, add some caramelised onions (almost like a paste), peper and salt. All other herbs goes in the sauce (italian rustic tomato, french jus or any to your liking.
And dont forget to fry for the mallard effect.
(in Belgium we eat meatballs with sour cherries)
Is it weird that when Alex said, "I need to accept who I am, maybe" I thought he was going to simply surrender and give up?
Franchement mec, ravi de te revoir. Ton ambiance et ta passion me boost après encore une semaine à travailler sur Paris avec la grève.
I was just watching PewDiePies meatballs and spaghetti wtf
Amazing video and great job !! Its good to see your experiments and they are tempting !! Thank you for sharing !!
meeeh, I hoped he'll go to Italy
Same. But didn't he already go to Italy for the mozzarella series?
@@atiya-said-hey and even for pizza
Alex, making each recipe a new character arc development.
You know, you could have just taken a train and come to Italy, if you were interested in the origin of meatballs. Just saying...
Italians didn't 'invent' meatballs, they just have their own style. Research shows recipes for Chinese meatballs going back to 200BC. The first Roman recipes show up around 100AD. Italian-American food is influenced by Italian immigrants, but has evolved over he past 100 years to become it's own thing, using different ingredients and techniques. Just about every culture has a long history of ground meat with 'additives' shaped into balls.
@@scottr939 every civilization that had access to minced meat sooner or later developed some kind of meatballs. I'm just saying that if he want to learn how to make italian meatballs it makes no sense going to NY, especially since it would be much more easy for him to go to Italy. Unless he want exactly "italian meatballs", then yes, he can only find them in the USA...
@@Beregorn88 I was responding to your mistaken comment about the 'origin of meatballs' being in Italy. Of course we can't know who was the first human to grind meat and roll it into a ball, so origin history is generally based on written records or other found artifacts like drawings or tools. He could have chosen any style like Italian, Swedish, Chinese, Turkish, Spanish etc, and gone to those countries, but he showed he wanted to make Italian-American style meatballs - therefore the best place to find those is in NYC.
that is why I love watching the journey. It's about the passion and discovery along the way. Now I want alex to learn the traditional meat ball from a half dozen countries and then take the best parts of all of them to make a new meat ball! Like what would happen if you combine techniques of american, swedish, italian, french and chinese lionhead meatball. What kind of delicious new meatball could melt your mind and blow your taste buds?
I'm also waiting for follow up recipes with kimchi. Like what kind of korean french stew can you make with your homemade kimchi? What about kimchi ramen? Smash Japanese techniques with korean techniques to make fun new flavor explosions.
Ohhh that's it man, I'm expecting a 3million part series on meatballs!
I have done a dozen meatball experiments in my time and I will say this...beef, veal, and silken tofu. I hate tofu but, just a wee amount gives texture and creaminess while skyrocketing flavor if marinated! Zero breadcrumbs and add grated hard cheese. Yellow(sweet) onion, roasted garlic, parsley, oregano, thyme, red pepper flake. A reduced mirpoux in beef broth (syrup like) is very good with mushrooms. You gotta figure it out from there! One Hint: Pulse the veal and tofu in a blender til grainy smooth. You got this!
As a Swedish person, I would love see some Swedish-style meatballs. Tore Wretman was the master of them.
@@randomawesomeness6114If you're talking about our currency, it's pretty low at the moment. So no, it's not that cheap for us to go to other countries. Maybe you confused us with Norway. And yes, I have been to a lot of other european countries, and personally, I love italian food. And no, I do not wish this whole series to be transformed into only being about Swedish meatballs. However, what I meant with my comment was that it would be fun to maybe include them in one of the videos in this series. If you would have tried the real thing, I'm sure you would have loved it.
Hi, I'm Italian and my grandmother used to do meatballs with the meat used to make beef broth and adding potatoes, obviously you have to grind everything. After that you can decide to add the "sugo" or not, but if you do make sure to cook the meatballs with the sauce ("sugo")
I love how good your video editing and story telling are getting!
I feel like Alex's videos are more and more about the story and less about the recipe. Yes, we saw him cooking. But he don't even tell anymore what ingredients he uses... I hope it's just an introduction, that we'll have more concrete recipes later.
As always, bravo for the editing, songs and everything. So much improvement since your started at Le Studio !
As an American I find this video very helpful I love the cooking videos
My (swedish) grandma always lets breadcrumbs "swallow" in some whole cream first, then adding finely diced onions, white pepper, some bouillon de gibier, salt, and a teaspoon of coarse swedish mustard. Then she serves them the super classic way with parsley sprinkled potato mash and lingonberry jam :')
Wow Alex. You are commiting as per your 2020 vision for the channel. Can't believe a cooking show can be this intriguing
I'm from Youngstown, OH, USA where we have a very large Italian immigrant population. Fennel is our secret ingredient for meatballs. Some people put sausage in the mixture to get it, others add the fennel directly.
Veal, pork and beef plus sausage or fennel, panko bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, onion, salt and pepper make an excellent meat ball
Go for it !! This series looks stunning this should be on netflix !!!!
I'm super excited about this series. Keep on Alex!
This kind of episode is why I watch your channel. If I could only be so fortunate to commit to a single endeavor as you are here!!! Perhaps in time, I will. Can't wait to see the conclusion!!!
As you went to USA, you might need to know a thing.
In US, great burger patties, many times, are as simple as meat with salt and pepper. It is said that if you NAIL the balance of lean to fat meat proportions alone, you already have a great start. Using the same logic, you must make the perfect meatball out of just that: meat, salt and pepper. If you manage to do that, you now have the founding knowledge to build, the reason behind the proportions of lean to fat meat, why add salt after the ball or patty is done and how much salt and pepper.
It is all about taste. YOUR taste. It is important to remember that something can only be perfect to you. You can be guided by great chefs, and copying their recipes is no mistake, but question if that can be improved for you. THAT is innovative.
All that said, you make me incredibly excited for a new series to come.